The present invention relates to a new and distinct plant of beardtongue, botanically known as Penstemon ‘Blackbeard’ and will be referred to hereinafter also by its cultivar name ‘Blackbeard’ and the new plant. The new plant cultivar of beardtongue is a hardy herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.
Penstemon ‘Blackbeard’ is a seed selection derived from selfed Penstemon ‘Pocahontas’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 24,804. Seeds were collected by the inventor and sown in the fall of 2013, germinated in a greenhouse in spring 2014 and planted in a research field that same year at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Mich. All subsequent evaluations were performed in a full-sun trial garden at the same nursery with loamy sand soil and irrigation and fertilizer as required. The single seedling plant was selected for further evaluation during the summer of 2014. The new plant was propagated by basal shoot cuttings at the same nursery in Zeeland, Mich., and the original plant and the cuttings evaluated over the next two years until final approval for introduction in the summer of 2014. The resultant asexually propagated cuttings have been stable and identical to the original plant in successive asexual propagations.
No plants of Penstemon ‘Blackboard’ have been sold or disclosed in this country, or anywhere in the world, by this or any name, more than one year prior to the filing of this application, with the exception of that which was sold or disclosed either directly or indirectly from the inventor.